*Beneful® Original Dry Dog Food was selected as the recipe for this ingredient list

Our Analysis

The company offers two products lines, which are kibble and canned. There are six selections in their dry food category and eight formulas in the wet food section. Out of the six kibbles, only four meet the AAFCO nutrient profiles, which are the minimum nutritional standards required for pet food, therefore, two do not meet the minimal standards. So even the Beneful website and packaging is appealing, the food does not live up to the marketing.

Beneful’s meat-based wet food comes under scrutiny, with sources of meat being unknown and considered ‘unfit for human consumption’. The byproducts of the food are considered inexpensive and low-quality, although a high protein percentage is present. Some of the meals contain rice, peas and barley which are considered nutritious, but these good ingredients generally do not outweigh the bad.

The Word on the Street...

While there are many quality companies that produce pet chow, the vast majority of customers agree that Beneful dog food should not be listed with them. Many criticisms about the product have popped up in the consumer reviews, with a majority stating that the food is between average and sub-par. A common complaint is that this dog food is quite expensive (thirty-six dollars for a twenty-pound bag), for a dog food that is not healthy for your dog.

An overview of Beneful’s line of products tends to emphasize that there are very few natural ingredients. Dog food needs to be a balance of protein-rich meat and carbohydrate-rich starch, but Beneful seems to be mostly ground corn (a good source of carbohydrates, but not much else). This gives your dog less nutrition than is optimal, and may also produce allergic reactions. The secondary ingredient is by-product meal, literally the parts of chickens that slaughterhouses throw away. This is poor substance for any animal, let alone your pet, and most customer reviews agree.

My 4 yr old Yorkie/Lhasa aso mix became very sick on this food. Beneful for small dog (dry) food. He never was really willingly eating it. After a few weeks he started vomiting, itching, shedding, eating grass.

I called Purina, they claimed they have had no problems with this food.

I see from the postings, this is not true.

I have now purchased Freedom by Blue – Grainfree, No additives, No Gluten.

I hope it works.

Our Pets are members of our Family – I don’t want to feed my dog anything that I wouldn’t eat.

Too much Tricky Labeling, False Labeling, Or Labeling so Small you can’t read it!

I hope this helps others who care about their pets. #NOMOREPURINA

Amy

To sum up my story my dog Daisy (just turned 9 in May) was checked around a week ago, blood work, pretty much everything for a healthy status. All of her levels were great! The Petsmart Banfield Vet said for her age she is excellent!

After only a quarter serving of Beneful my dog Daisy who didn’t show any signs of being sick went to extremely sick/dying! She would have died if she did not go to the 24 hr. animal hospital. After running lots of tests to see what could be wrong they told me the dog was suffering from kidney/liver failure but didn’t know how sever until more tests were done. I had to say goodbye to my dog on Sunday 6/8/14 because the animal hospital was unsure if she would even make it through the night. About $4000 later she is slowly recovering. Her symptoms were vomiting, red stool-diarrhea, lethargic, not responsive at all! I have pictures of everything.

My dog just got back from her ultrasound today to find out that her kidney/liver is “thank god” okay but swollen from this beneful “poison” food. The time waiting to hear if your pet will die is something nobody should have to go through. Regardless if it’s killing 1 or a 1000 pets out of million would you put your pet at risk? A food should not cause death! Something has to be done/investigated! I went through the worst 48 hours and I can’t imagine the pain my dog went through!

PLEASE DO NOT FEED YOUR PET THE BENEFUL BRAND unless you want to put your pet at risk to suffer from kidney/liver failure/death. Whether you have a small or large dog why take the chance with this food? From forums and research that I have been doing the Beneful brand does not see to effect large dogs as much because their kidney’s are larger. It does however kill them once they have been several years on it.

Please sign the petition and add yourselves to the FB group! There are 2 different groups.

I have been feeding my dog the beneful dog food. She now SICK,aggressive,throwing up and sleepy ,drinks so much water ! What is this beneful food doing to my dog? She was very happy and outgoing ,very friendly. Now i am lucky if i can get near her with out getting bit!I am not very happy nor is she !

Ms.M

I lost two dogs in six months due to liver and kidney fail. Please do not feed your dogs this poison. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did!

valerio

Usually we buy blue premium dog food no fillers no junk,my dog has never been sick, last week my wife bought beneful after four days Nola (my dog)is very sick cant walk properly looks like She is dying WHAT IS WRONG WITH BENEFUL I AM UPSET, WHY DO YOU SELL GARBAGE DOG FOOD

Guelsy Torres

Bought Beneful puppy dry food yesterday and fed it twice to my 8 month old AMerican Bulldog puppy . She didn’t eat it the first time I fed it to her and the second time I mixed with soft food and sh date most of it. This morning she threw up and niw her hair seems lifted throughout her body and she has what appears to be hives/rash under the hair all over her body. She’s not acting like herself …. And has been eating grass today . Do not buy this brand !!!!!!

June

A very healthy twelve year old Yorkie is now fighting for his life. We were not aware of any issue with Beneful until the Vet asked us about any change in food. Yes, we had just purchased two small Beneful Dinners. Gave Benji a portion of one of those packs and within a short period of time he began vomiting. This progressed over a few hours to not being able to stand up. His intestines are so enlarged that an xray is unable to view his Kidneys. He is very sick and may not make it. This came completely out of the blue. Does anyone have current information on problems with this particular food.

Kimberly

How is your Yorkie doing? I hope he is ok. I lost mine at 19 1/2 from old age. This food is a nightmare. The dyes used can cause cancer, animal digest, sugar (a client’s maltese lost 13 teeth). The by-products is what you don’t want in your dogs food, it’s basically road kill among other things. Royal Canin for Yorkies is a very good food. My dogs are on Natural Balance which is a good food also. choosing an all natural food is the way to keep your pets healthy and out of the vet’s office.

Garriottsk

Beneful killed my dog! My greyhound was eating Beneful Healthy Weight Dry and started having this hacky cough that lasted for a couple of weeks. He became very sick and started throwing up and having dry heaves. Took him to the vet and was told it could just be a stomach bug and to feed hin boiled chicken and rice for a week. While eating only chicken and rice he got better and seem lik his old self. I went back to feeding him Beneful thiking he was well. The cough and throwing up came back, he started drinking and peeing a lot took him to the vet and they did everything they could but he had stopped eating became dehydrated and later went into total renal failure. I had to put him down 10 days after i started feeding him Beneful again. I spent $3800.00 to try and save him. I called Beneful about it and they said there was nothing wrong with the food but offered to pay me the $3800.00 for my dog’s medical care. That came with a settlement agreement that I could not sue them in the future. I said NO and for them to keep their money. It would not bring my dog back and I might want to sue if it comes out that the Beneful dog food was poison.

Franklin

Beneful has more law suits pending based on the product primarily causing blindness in the dogs. Why Purina continues to offer this garbage is anyone’s guess. My guess is their exceptional marketing is boosting their companies earnings greatly. And to H*ll with the animals.

Why isn’t the FDA making them to stop????

Amy

Our car, under a block of ice due to recent weather events, prompted me to consider dog food alternatives at the local corner store as I had no means to pick up a new bag of Orijen—my Westie’s diet mainstay for the past several years. Fed him some wet food Beneful this morning, which he gleefully gobbled up. Several minutes later he became hyper–almost manic. What’s in this stuff we fed him? I found out here and dumped the remainder STAT. Beneful surely can’t be doing good things for doggies used to this stuff.

Dan

Our dogs (a German Shepard & a Pitt Bull) love Beneful. They never seemed to get physically ill from it at all. The problems was, they were itching and shedding, and chewing their backs raw. We took them to our vet, and he told us he’s seen this a lot, and the common thread he’s found is Beneful. He believes it’s the food coloring. He recommended we stop the Beneful, so we did about two months ago… their hair is growing back and the itching is gone.

Maggie

I’ve been feeding my dogs Beneful Dry Food for a very long time now. My dogs love it, my brown lab mix loves it more than her dry food, and my Shih Tzu, a VERY picky eater, I can sometimes catch her eating it, too. These dogs are very healthy, my lab is about a year and and she is very healthy and active.

david

I feed my dog Hill’s Science Diet large breed dry and mix it with beneful wet and she loves it. she has plenty of energy and has always had firm stools since using the Hill’s and beneful wet. does anyone know of problems with Beneful wet?

ShibaSweet

What cheap garbage this food is! I would never feed this to my shiba inu. It is full of corn and soy. There’s even SUGAR added in this food! Not to mention the artificial colors and propylene glycol, which is BANNED for use in cat food because it causes Heinz Body Anemia. Also, you just gotta love how they even show cobs of corn flying across the screen on the commercials. ROFL.

Kassi

I have three dogs and they have been sick since early July. I was certain the problem was not related to their food. They had Beneful in the past, but only a bag or so every now and then. But starting in July, all I have fed them is Beneful. For the last several months, all three of my dogs have had severe diarrhea and vomiting. They had been on antibiotics several times and during this time, I would feed them chicken and rice. Once they appeared to be getting better, I would start incorporating Beneful in with the chicken and rice. They seemed to be fine until the antibiotics ran out and within a few days, it would start again. We tested them for giardia, treated them for whip worms, had fecal samples tested several times over the last few months. One of my dogs ended up staying at the vet’s office over night hooked up to an i.v. because she was so dehydrated from vomiting. We have spent around $600.00 in vet bills. Last week, my daughter called me from my parents house and said to not feed our dogs any food coming from China cuz 600 dogs and at least 10 cats have died from the food and treats coming out of China. I had no idea Beneful was made there until last week. I immediately switched to Purina One Lamb and Rice and guess what? My dogs are almost back to normal in just three days. I was so happy to find out what was causing my dogs to be sick. I was very worried about them and not sure how much longer we could keep going through this. Look on the dog food label or bag and the treats for where the food is produced, not where it is distributed. It may be distributed here but it is often made elsewhere. you might have to look it up on line to find out where it is produced.

sunshine

FYI– Purina makes beneful too! you are still feeding your dogs poison! i just found out too.

Maggie

Please do not feed this to your dogs. I lost two dogs to liver failer because of this product. Please don’t take the risk.

Brad

I am sorry to hear this. My Jack Russell named Morgan died last week. I had been feeding her Beneful for quite some time. I had no idea about all of these reports. Several months ago, she began vomiting and her belly started swelling. The vet said it was pancreatitis but had no idea why. Last week she died of liver failure. After reading these reports, I’m convinced it was from Beneful. Morgan was 10 years old so I had many great memories with her but the fact that she may have died because of what I was feeding her is almost too much to take.

Michelle

I have a 4 month old chocolate Labrador puppy I switched to Purina Beneful Original dog food. On Monday I gave her her first bowl and by Tuesday she refused to eat vomititng and wouldn’t drink water. On Friday I took her to the vet hospital and she was diagnosed with Kidney failure. I don’t know what to do at this point. Please do not feed this to your dog. (Manteca, CA)

JKat

our 50# mix breed has almost always eaten Beneful Incredibites, and he loves it, but quite often has loose stool, even knowing that this food is not the best or healthiest of brands, there have never been any real ill effects from it, now that i read a few things online about problems this food can cause, i’m seriously considering switching brands, but there seems to be so many conflicting reports and reviews for “every” dry food brand out there! :/ even all the highest rated/reviewed brands (Blue Buffalo, Orijen, Evo Red Meat, Science Diet, Pro Plan, Canidae, Taste Of The Wild) have so-so comments spread through-out. choosing a new brand of dry food is proving to be alot more difficult than i even imagined!

ashley

this food has made our dog sooo ill. we took her to the vet & put her on antibiotics & a new diet before we realized it was the food, that was 3 weeks ago, she was mostly better untill we put a small scoop of beneful with her new food one time 2 days ago & now she is having accidents all over the house, bad diarrhea & not eating i cannot believe after all the complaints im seeing this food HAS NOT BEEN RECALLED!! i see that making a profit is more important then our beloved pets life. ive always bought purina for my 3 cats & dog, never again. i hope you get sued

Donna Mitnick

I have two seven pound poodles. One started vomiting a few weeks ago. She wasn’t herself. They were eating Beneful. Vet thought intestional so we fed her bland for a few days. No better and back to the vet for xrays to rule out a blockage. No blockage but stomach was inflamed. She wasnt any better but not any worse so we gave it a few more days. Two days later we back at vet for more xrays and blood panel as that Morning she vomited and had blood in her stool. Diagnosis after blood panel and hundreds of dollars later. Pancreatitis. Luckily we caught it early and I was able to treat it at home. Most dogs are hospitalized. She is now on perscription Id as is my other. I wish I had read these reviews on Beneful a long time ago. I would not reccomend this food based on my experience.

Moe

I have just been told that Beneful is terrible to feed your dog. I have heard of dogs dying of kidney failure from eating this food!!

Ima Adey

Lots of reports of this happening. My young girl was on a new bag of Purina working dog mix, and started to vomit. She was dead within the week from kidney failure.

There are facebook pages devoted to this subject.

Tammy Gilday

Thank god I found out when I did. My terrier/chihuahua mix is a very picky eater. When we rescued her, we tried several brands before finally finding something she would eat. Beneful Incredi-bites. For the first year and a half she seemed to thrive on this food, and never hesitated to eat it (although she did start turning her nose up and the Beneful moist food, which was her “treat”). During this time she dealt with periodic bouts of vomiting and bloody diarahea, and intermittent rounds of excessive itching, despite being free of fleas. Then, a few weeks ago she started becoming less playful, more lethargic, was barely touching her food, drinking far more water than usual, and not “doing her business” more than once every 3 days (usually twice a day for her). She would tremble as if she was freezing, even though the temperature in the house was the same as always. A friend shared the warnings about Beneful with me, and I started looking at all of the complaints and stories from others. I immediately picked up the rest of her Incredi-bites, bagged it up and threw it away. We went to the pet store to try to find another food she will eat (not expecting results based on our experiences when we rescued her). We finally settled on two foods (both of which are gluten free and made in the US), in order to give her body a chance to eliminate anything it doesn’t need. Within 3 days of taking her off of Beneful, she has regained her spirit and energy, is eating again, “doing her business” as usual (and NO bloody diarahea), and appears to be returning to her playful self. While there is still no “scientific proof” that Beneful is the cause of her problems, I will NOT risk it again. We consider ourselves very lucky to have found out in time to avert disaster.

Elaine

I just read several of the posts here and find in strange that the same stories are being posted on another site for Pedigree. Even down to the worms in the bags of food. Kidney, liver problems and seizures.

I am wondering now just what is going on. Who really makes these foods? Where do they get the ingredients?

I was going to try one of the more expensive foods, like Blue Buffalo but also read those are on the list of complaints.

What do we feed our beloved pets? Many are unable to cook for their dogs/cats. Sometimes it is a money issue. It seems we cannot trust any company to make a product that is good for our furry family members.

Any suggestions????

Katherine Hansen

I think something is amiss in the dogfoods period. I myself cannot afford the expensive stiff I go with homemade not as cheap, but what I cookfor my family has to be made for my diet too and it is basically the same as my dog’s neither of us can eat similar foods so he gets what we do. Unless I am adding onions and such.

Lin

We feed our German Shepherds Blue Buffalo, and they are thriving on it. BB does not have by-products or other harmful things in it. I get so mad at vets who continue to tell people, and I know two, that Beneful and Pedigree are healthy foods for their pets. They refuse to listen.

Ice

I’ve fed my dogs ‘Halo’ Brand Salmon Dry Dog Food practically since they were pups. They are 4 months old and super happy/playful with shiny coats, good stools, and clean teeth. There are other high quality dog foods, but Halo is just the one I’ve had the best luck with & my dogs loved the most. Spend the extra cash and buy some good dog food from a brand that hasn’t been recalled; buy the little bag to test them out, then get the big bulk bag when u figure out what your dog prefers best. Take care, and take care of ur dogs.

Mary Jane Frank

My 5 year young miniature schnauzer passed away suddenly on February 4,2013 after eating Beneful! Day prior to eating the beneful she was rolling around and playing in the snow. CHLOE ate the crap dog food which I had just purchased, threw up on Sunday night and became very thirsty and increasingly lethargic; I attempted to take the dogs for a walk around 2pm, but Chloe planted her feet onto the floor and would not go. She slept for awhile then got up drank more water, and by 4pm was glassy eyed and very listless; I called the vet immediately but the doctor had already left; I phoned every vet in the phonebook while holding and comforting our sweet Chloe but could not get help; My husband called from work and informed me that he found a vet who was in until 6pm but it was too late for Chloe. Chloe died in my arms at 5pm! Our beagle became very ill but has survived. She too drank copiuos amounts of water and peed massive amounts of clear urine. She also had respiratory issues for which she was placed on a broad spectrum antibiotic and steroids. Her urine was tested by a lab for very high amounts of protein. She is on inderal twice a day for the rest of her life. I too called BENEFUL and was told”REALLY???WE HAVEN’T HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT PROBLEMS WITH THE DOG FOOD” I said to them who are you trying to fool, if you have a computer or watch television, and you work for Beneful you certainly must have heard! I say PLEASE TAKE THE GARBAGE OFF OF THE STORE SHELVES< HAVEN'T ENOUGH DEAR PETS DIED OR BECAME ILL ALREADY!! Believe when I say I am spreading the word! Thanks

Scott

My dog came down with similar symptoms. Has been on beneful for a couple years. Took him to vet and put him on a quality food about a week ago. He stopped vomiting and his stool is slowly starting to return to normal. Vet stated no infection or blockage, just a very low quality food. How many dogs have to get sick before someone steps in with a recall. I thought I was feeding him a quality food. Don’t let the packaging fool you. Beneful should use the money to produce a food that does not harm your dog.

Lynn

My Chow mix has been eating Beneful for several years, as did several dogs before. All was good until several months ago when she started acting “not right”. She didn’t seem sick, but there was something different. She seemed very lethargic, and at time would drink water like there’s no tomorrow. Occasional fits of coughing, and large amounts of time chewing on her front feet. At other time she spent a lot of time checking and licking her rear end. All of these symptoms were not continuous, but would last for a week or two, then seem to subside for a short time, then return. I am going to switch to a different brand for a time to see if anything changes.

P

Beneful healhty weight not a good dog food , fed my little baby all his life developed kidney failure . I wish i have read the reviews but to late now. Need to be RECALL.

Misty

My husband picked up a bag of this dogfood last month and 1 week into feeding our lab/shepard mix this she puked on my dining room floor. We discovered that she has started eating her own feces! I told hom that it had to be the dogfood and he looked it up on the net and found out that this dogfood was total crap. Another thing I wanted to add is that my dog stinks after eating this food. She has NEVER smelled like this ever! We will never buy this food or any purina products again.

Debra C

propylene glycol,is another word for Antifreeze. You will find it in other soft dog food to keep the moisture out. And there are Many dog Treats that also have the proplene glycol. So Read the Ingredients before YOU BUY! Since I have learned about this, I NOW Read every Dog Product and You will Be Amazed how many products have this. My dog has been getting better now that she doesn’t have this in her system. We Should ALL BOYCOTT ALL PRODUCTS THAT HAVE PROYLENE GLYCOL !! IT”s in Some of Our FOOD TOO small puddings

Dave S

Propylene Glycol (PG) is not Antifreeze. Antifreeze is Ethylene Glycol. I know this from years of experience in the Automotive and Food chemical industry. A simple Google search would have shown you this. I agree Beneful is a poor dog food as it’s mostly corn.

sandi

Propelene glycol is not antifreeze, proply ehtlene is

Dan L.

DO NOT BUY THIS. Less than a week ago,I bought a bag of Beneful Healthy Radiance. When I got home and opened it, the food looked very strange. After a second glance, I found several small worms crawling around in the food. It was after this that I researched it and discovered all the issues with this food. I returned it and bought Iams instead.

sheri

Ummm on the FDA food recall website there are like ten times as many recalls on IAMS, Blue Buffalo, NUVO and Royal Canin. These other brands are supposed to be of BETTER quality. ???? The number of recalls overall is enough to scare you into just letting your dog eat chicken and rice for the rest of their life. Isn’t that what they told us to feed the dogs when we had that massive food poisoning problem a couple of years ago?

tracie

Can you please tell me wher to find the recalls on Royal Canin? I’m not able to find them. My boxers eat Boxer formula and i’m looking to chaneg but, VERY hard to find a good food that doesn’t have something negative about it. Thanks so much

Debra C

Did you check the date on the bag? Sometimes it is the store that keeps it on their shelve to long. I don’t think worms came from processing the dog food. I would tell the store about it.

Ron Cales

Two weeks ago my beautiful 4 y/o Golden Retriever started vomiting up his food. He became very thirsty and lethargic. We took him to the vet, who thought he might have eaten something which was lodged in his stomach. after x-rays we found his stomach was clear. It was then that we were asked what he eats. After telling the Vet that he has always eaten Beneful, the Vet with a look of horror on her face told us about the problems with Beneful. She then test him for liver failure. for the past week now out dog has been on IV’s trying to keep his liver functioning. It now appears that he is going to lose this battle. I am so mad at Purina right now because they knew about this problem with their food and did nothing about it. Please stop using all Purina products. It seems the only way to get their attention is to put them out of business. In the mean time I have ran up thousand of dollars in vet bills only to be told to expect his death, all because of dog food.

Heather R

Vomiting, diarrhea, excessive water drinking, lethargy, weight loss (from 10 lbs to 4 lbs), bloating….these are ALL the symptoms my mothers Silky has experienced starting in July. Right after a vet check-up where my mother was told her dog was in perfect health. After an emergency vet visit, tests, scans, antibiotics, pain meds, etc., we learned she has pancreantitis. Still are unsure of how much longer we have with her. The vet told my mother she was seeing a lot of this type of thing lately. Common factor….Beneful. When my mother called Purina to voice her concerns, she was told, “Really? We haven’t heard anything. We’ll send you some coupons so you can try a different bag.”

Lisa

My dog became terribly ill from beneful food and has never returned to his normal self. After researching, I found beneful food is killing dogs and causing kidney and liver failure and seizures. I posted to their facebook but they immediately removed my post with no comment. In reading other posts, this type of thing has been going on for years. The FDA recal web page interestingly has multiple kinds of food listed but Purina and Beneful are oddly no where to be found on that list. All of this appears to show Purina turning a blind eye for the sake of profit, and perhaps the FDA is beneficiary of Purina support to also follow suit. Too many deaths to ignore and yet both companies are. Look at the posts over the years…always the same things. How many years does this have to continue before someone does something? this article tells about the food, gives links to consumer affairs, shows the FDA recall page and who to contact. http://www.examiner.com/article/purina-s-beneful-dog-food-killing-dogs-nationwide-no-recall-issued-by-fda

Andrea Gille

I just put down my Siberian Husky. She was 9 years old and I was just looking at pictures of her from last Fall and she looked wonderful. I guess I didn’t really realize how bad she looked in the end. My sweetheart became very sick in late June, although she got a clean bill of health in the beginning of June. We did blood tests and they came back with slightly elevated liver counts. The second blood test specifically for liver did not point to liver disease. Next on to xray – nothing showing out of the ordinary. Next – ultrasound – showing liver changes. The doctor was looking for hepatocutaneous which the technician at the specialty hospital could not and would not say she had. My poor sweety could not walk, would not eat and had an allergic reaction affecting her paws, mouth, eyes. The vet didn’t know what to do anymore because she couldn’t diagnose her. We tried steroids and in the first few days she was getting better. I decided to put her back on the Beneful – I had been feeding her mostly table food because her appetite was so bad that at least I could entice her to eat table food. She also had sores on the edges of her mouth that made it difficult to eat and at one time I was putting the food in the blender with water added because she couldn’t eat anyting solid. Three days after she went back on the Beneful was the end. She couldn’t hold her bladder. She wouldn’t get up. When we could get her to go outside, she couldn’t hold her butt up to pee and sat in it. The vet told us she was out of options. She was jaundiced, fluid in her abdomen and labored breathing and we still didn’t know what it was. It was kinder for her to put her down. Then I read about Beneful and other peoples’ dog symptoms are and I am so upset that I fed my dog this crap and that it may have caused her demise. My two other Huskies were throwing up and I took them off immediately. I don’t know what has to be done to take this off the market but you can be sure that I am going to find a way. Here is another site with complaints that may help you guys.

Andrea I just put down my 5 month old Cocker. He died from Liver Failure of unknown origin. He was also eating Beneful (mixed with Eukenuba) He didn’t like the better dog foods. He liked the bad one!! I am so so sorry for your loss Just know you are not alone and you thought you were doing the best by your puppy

Michelle

BEWARE! I fed this to my 9 yo. Husky, who was a gorgeous, healthy, playful and happy girl. She was active and in-shape right before this. Looking at pictures, it seems impossible that she went downhill so fast and is now gone forever! We only fed Beneful for 2.5 weeks in mid-September, and she started having all of these sudden crazy symptoms at the end of Sept, all of which were unexplained. None of the vets could figure out why this was happening. It has literally driven me crazy trying to figure out what could have possibly caused this horror. We usually feed Science Diet Advanced Fitness, because it is the only SD that has real chicken as the FIRST ingredient. We ran out and temporarily didn’t have a way to drive to the pet store. So we went to the nearby CVS and got some Beneful to tide us over. This is the ONLY thing that was different in her routine. Although, at the time, I thought about Beneful as the only potential cause because it was the only change, but then thought there was no way a nationally distributed food would do that without news coverage and a massive recall! Apparently I was wrong and my jaw dropped to the floor when I read an article about all the deaths linked to this food. It makes me sick that feeding my precious baby this food could have caused her traumatic 6 week battle with a slew of mystery ailments and subsequent death. She had internal bleeding, bloody stools, heavy panting from pain, sudden bout hemolytic anemia, elevated liver blood levels, emergency surgery on her ruptured spleen and dissolving liver, pancreatitis, bruises everywhere with an inability to clot and more. When we first took her in for the bruises her blood levels were normal, but then she became lethargic and severely jaundiced. It all spiraled from there, with daily trips to the vet for IVs and vitamin K injections, weekend visits to the emergency vet blood transfusions, steroids, and and endless about of medicines at intervals of 3 hours… she needed round the clock care for 6 weeks, but she kept bouncing back for a bit, getting better and appearing to be on the mend, then would take a turn for the worse… on and on. We would basically feed her from a syringe for 4 weeks. She fought so hard to stay with us, and it all spiraled so quickly. I have been to the consumer affairs website, but apparently those reports mean nothing to the FDA, and the FDA says they’ve only had a few formal submissions. We ALL need to go there instead of only posting on random websites! PLEASE REPORT TO FDA DIRECTLY at FDA.gov. There is even a pet food section of the website!

Myra Lukac

BEWARE! I strongly supect Beneful caused my precious Ladybirds’ seizurs & subsequent death. She WAS a healthy, playful 9 yr. old Lab mix who lived in-doors but got lots of exercise in the back-yard & on walks. She started vomitting one morning & became dis-oriented. By the time the vet opened an hour later, she had 2 seizures. He suspected poisoning. I found nothing in my house or yard that could have poisoned her. On his(BAD)advice, I allowed him to eutanize her. Unfortunately, money was a factor. I didn’t know that she might recover if I stopped feeding her this POISON! Last week I saw a link to consumer affairs w/ 146 similar stories! I WILL contact every retailer, vet, rescue group, etc. & continue to post about this on facebook daily until it is recalled! Enough death, illness & grief from Purina! You may post my personal info. so that others may contact me!

Thanks Barbara Larkin, for the book reference. I found out about Beneful last week when a local rescue group & animal clinic linked the site on facebook. We had just spent $40.00 the night before on 2 more bags of the poison! When I took my sweet Ladybird to the closest vet when she became critically ill, he didn’t ask what food she was on. It wasn’t until several months later that I read these reviews & realized that her food probably poisoned her! Rural King was NOT going to refund our money but I dodn’t take no for an answer. I showed them our print-out from consumer affairs(now 146 similar stories!) What can we do??

David

Aug 10th 2012

In the past week and a half, Ive buried both my dogs. The first one was a 7 y/o Boston Terrier and had been sick for 2 weeks with severe vomiting abd diarrhea. after multiple vet visits which included all labs,xrays and ultra sounds, showed liver and intestinal problems. They tried different foods and medications which helped for a week and then everything went downhill fast and we ended up having her put down. Less then a week later our 8 y/o 96 pound Golden Retriever vomited during the night and I found him in shock and rushed him to the vet where he then had 1 episode of projectile vomiting of undigested “benefull” And then went into cardiac arrest in which he didnt survive. An autopsy was requested where they found severe colon damage,kidney and bladder damage. He had just had his annual physical 3 days prior to this event and was given a clean bill of health. We had just recently switched to the “healthy weight” benefull. I am still waiting on toxicology reports which I will post before I see a lawyer. Our family is heartbroken.

Rose

Our beautiful girl dog Bell was laying in her bed and suddenly jumped out and payed out on the floor and seemed to be having some type of siesure. She has not been sick but not acting herself. She has been eating Beniful and threw it up whole. The Vet said they will take blood and call us in the morning. I am so scared after reading your post. Bell is four years old and is a Sheba. She is the best girl ever. We love her. I did not know about this pet food problem. We have her home and she is very lethargic. Please let me know if you have any advice. I love our dog and she is a huge part of our family. Marie

Margie

We have Mini Schnauzers male/female, have been feeding them Beneful for several years but always the green package bag. A month ago the green was not available so I got a different bag but it was Beneful. Our oldest Schnauzer (8yrs) started throwing up and wouldn’t eat, was eating other foods but after a few days he became where he wouldn’t eat,took him to the vet and they ran blood work and had indicated he was very low on iron, but his pancreas was ok and other organs.Noticed he wasn’t have a bowl movement so the vet gave us a stool softener to help him, this didn’t work at all. Over the weekend we tried other options to have him go and he became lathargicso we rushed him to the emergency vet, almsot 3k later they still didn’t know why or what was wrong only his red/white blood cells were fighting each other got down to 16 which is too low to do surgery and that he wouldn’t make it.Stools were blood, We had to have him put to sleep, we believe the beneful did this to him and after reading all the articles, Beneful killed my dog!!!!!Be careful everyone don’t let this happen to your loved pet.

D.

My dog (11 yrs old) just died of liver cancer. The vet assistant said this is becoming more common and seems to be related to cheap dog food. Her comment keep playing over and over in my head. “Not me” I thought. I fed my dog good food….I fed my dog “beneful”.

After reading this website, it has become very clear that because I believed the hype, I unknowingly shortened the life of my wonderful dog. Please, PLEASE, find another dog food to feed your dog!! Do not continue to feed your dog Beneful!

Ron Gentz

Dear Sir: We have been a Beneful customer for our dog for several years. Trixie loves the dry Beneful dog food very much, along with the moist and meaty packets we give her occasionally. Unfortunately, the last two large bags of Beneful have been filled with small moths or some similar insect. I am not pleased about that situation. I found them as soon as opened each new bag. This has and does present a problem storing the dog food in the house or garage. Hopefully this type of situation will be corrected. As I said, I am NOT real happy. Thank you. Ron Gentz

KM

Do not feed this sub par food to your pet unless you want to end up at the vets office. My sons Boston Terrier got sick after eating just part of one bag. He ran out of Nutro and picked up a bag of Beneful to get him buy until he could get his regular brand. After being rushed in to the emergency clinic for feces with blood in them he found out it inflamed his dogs intestines. He had to go on a oatmeal based dogfood for a couple months until his intestines calmed down. He also developed hot spots which are a sign of an allergy. So this not so cheap, “cheap” dog food cost my son 400 dollars in vet bills. He switched to Castor and Pollux and has not had a problem since. My son really loves his dog and this shook him up.

William’s Mom

I am a petsitter and have to feed Beneful to two Lab mix adult dogs. One is hyper and barks madly to eat, and the other one has chronic ear infections which could be caused by the food coloring in this food. The ingredients list tells the awful story of this food….neither dog ever seems to be satisfied, they both are always hyper and begging for food. Table scraps would be better. The owners can’t be convinced to buy another brand.

Lori

Do not feed your dog this poison. Dr. Karen Becker rates it as one of the worst foods for dogs. It has an ingredient in it that is the second cousin to antifreeze. If you have this food, throw it out and buy a quality dog food, it will save you not only medical costs but also stress from not seeing your dog suffer when they do subcome to illness. I am not sure why “Beneful” is even allowed to market this poison to consumers and innocent animals. Shameful!

K.

Read the actual ingredient label…not just the “Made with chicken” comment on the front of the bag!!!! This dog food is GARBAGE…..by-product garbage!!!!! My dog’s health deteriorated significantly since we started feeding him Beneful; including symptoms such as hair loss and weeping eyes. We have now switched to a high quality food. I agree with Lori (in the previous posted comment):It is shameful that ‘Beneful’ is even allowed to market this product to consumers and innocent animals!

mechelle

I fed this tomy Bichon Frise who is a senior. spent She became so ill. Garbage is right. We took her to the vet many tests done. X-ray, Ultrasound, Blood etc—. She is breathing hard, shaking, lethargic, Has very loose stools, And will not eat. We are in limbo at the moment on what to do. I am sorry I tried this product.

maureen

Is this all the Beneful (Purina) products?? IAMS kill babies via Planned Parenthood, Beneful harms dogs…We live Pro-Life and that means adopting rescue or stray dogs, supporting neutering, and not doing business with any corporation that contributes to killing babies. This information just came to me today, and I need a GOOD QUALITY food for my 11 year old, mixed mutt, 3 legged terrier. AND my very best friend. love, maureen.

Andrea

Been using Solid Gold for years…they have several different types, hope this helps.

JulieP

Toyce, I experienced the exact same thing! My skinny, active little pointer has never been interested in food, but she goes absolutely nuts for the Playful Life. I bought it wanting something with extra protein to put some weight on her, and which I could afford to feed her a lot of. Well, since she has been on it (about a month), she is twice as hyper as she was,(and she was extremely active to start with). My boyfriend jokes that there must be crack in the food, because she sure acts like she is addicted. The only thing I saw in the ingredients that might explain this is sugar. I literally Googled “does Beneful Playful Life contain caffeine?” I’m afraid she’s gonna have a heart attack!

debi

I went to this site to see if Beneful Playful Life could be making my hyper Cairn Terrier even MORE hyper, and after reading your post, I’m very skeptical about this food! I started him on Puppy, then moved to HealthyLife, but sometimes they’re out of that so I’ve substituted Playful on more than one occasion. He’s driving me CRAZY! I have an older Cairn who is on Rx Science Diet and she is SOOO mellow

Toyce

WOW! Wish I had researched Beneful Healthy Weight before I fed it to my dog. Like others, it sounded nutritional and it was on sale at Petsmart so I figured I would try it. I started feeding my dog Beneful two months ago. I was excited when he took to the food so quickly. He couldn’t wait for me to feed him each morning. Sounds great, right! Well, I noticed he had become quite hyper when I came out to feed him each morning. He loves tummy rubs and would forgo any petting or rubbing; he just wanted his food. He started jumping up on me just to get the food out of my hand. As each day passeed, he appeared to become more and more hyper. Today, he jumped up and knoocked the food out of hand and when it fell on the porch, he went after it like it was a drug. My dog is a 95lb. German Shepherd mixed with Timberwolf and Blue Healer (Big Dog!) I’ve tried other brands, but this is the first time my dog has ever reacted to a dog food in this manner. Needless to say, I will be going to the store to get some new dog food. If anyone else has seen this reaction in their pet, I would really like to hear from you.

maralevine

Hi Toyce, Have you found a new food that is working for your dog? We do not recommend Beneful Dog Food because of the low quality ingredients. It may be helpful to look at our dog review site, to see what we think of each dog food.

Becky

Please help. My 3-year-old Beagle has been throwing up about an hour or two after eating every time she eats since November 26. She has had a barium x-ray, bloodwork, exploratory surgery, and everything checks out fine. We have tried every diet imaginable. She is now on Nature’s Balance Duck and Potato food. She used to eat Beneful (we stopped giving that to her about two weeks ago). The vet is stumped and I’m at a loss. Please help.

Marty

I am curious as to the condition of your beagle at this time. Has the Nature’s Duck and Potato stopped the vomiting?

Andy

I put my new little golden retriever puppy on this and gradually weaned her from the Iams food the breeder used. Almost immediately she started getting diarrhea. I had to take her outside several times an hour. It got worse and worse over two weeks and the vet said if it doesn’t improve pretty quickly I need to change her diet.

Well over the next week she lost interest in eating, wasn’t gaining weight, and her coat looked horrible. So I switched her to Pro Plan. The improvement was immediate and dramatic. She tore into the Pro Plan. Now a week after finishing the switch her coat is amazing, she’s porked up nicely, and has all sorts of energy. No more loose stools either. She’s so much more comfortable.

Never again would I put a dog on Beneful.

Lonelle

I just spent $900 to have a bladder stone removed from my chihuahua. We’ve had him on Beneful for about a year, Science Diet before that. Im pretty upset that I put him thru this for the cheaper price of food. Hope everyone get their animals off this!

Michelle

Beneful is total crap.Basically it is just food coloring, Sugar( yes it is high on the ingredient list)Corn,and by products. Just a bunch of TRASH.If you are on a budget, try 4health (Tractor Supply) or Kirkland (Costco)Or Diamond Naturals. Anything but Beneful,Please,dogs are Carnivores, Beneful doesn’t even have one ingredient that is good for dogs.

Deborah M

If you are feeding your dog this food, look up some of the ingredients online. Look up what animal by-product digest is…the remains of unspecified dead animals that have been chemically treated so they liquify, then are sprayed on the corn-based kibble so it tasted like meat. Then there is polypropylene glycol – it is a chemical used in airplane de-icer, anti-freeze and other non-food products. Your dog would be better off in you just let it eat out of your garbage can. If you spend a couple of extra dollars on decent dog food, your dog will eat less and poop less because it is actually getting the nutrients it needs from its food…not just a bunch of meat-flavored fillers…so in the long run it will end up costing you less.

Dave

I originally fed my lab only Beneful. Then I started reading about dog food ingredients. There are so many conflicting statements on the web but the number involving Beneful concerned me. I looked at other “higher” quality foods but the cost was up there. I decided to blend a bag of Beneful & a bag of Blue Buffalo hoping to increase the overall quality without spending twice as much. Recently, Wrigley had to have bladder stones removed. I don’t know if it was the Beneful or something else but my vet mentioned that he has had to remove stones from Beneful fed dogs. Does anyone else have experience with this?

My dog had been eating canned Science Diet I/D due to food sensitivitities for most of her life. I’ve always wanted to get her off the canned stuff, but never really found anything that A) she liked, and B) she didn’t have a reaction to. About 1 month ago, I gave her a little Beneful and she seemed to like it and did not have any immediate reactions. I was pretty excited about this and gradually transitioned her over to 100% Beneful. However, about 1 week ago, she started groaning whenever she laid down and really had trouble sleeping comfortably; groaning throughout the night. She was otherwise active and seemed normal without any other symptoms. We thought that maybe it was the early stages of arthritis, as she is 80 lbs and 10+ years old. We took her to the vet and he said she did seem to have some mild arthritis in one leg, but nothing that should be causing her apparent discomfort. We had a full blood panel run and it came back with highly elevated pancreas enzymes (aka pancreatitis) and elevated liver enzymes. We just had her blood work done ~6 months ago for a different reason, so we knew her baseline was normal. We immediately took her off the Beneful and back to the I/D. Over the course of the last 2 days, she is groaning much less, sleeping much better, and seems to be quickly getting better. I will leave you to your own conclusions, but after doing a lot of research (which I should have done before), and reading a lot of other people’s experiences, I would not recommend Beneful dog food to anyone.

Teresa

I have a Basset Hound that started throwing up in February 2011 (Super Bowl Sunday). Over the last several months it has been more frequent but he was always chipper. I took him to the vet this week and all his organs are in good health so we brought him home with bland food and some anti-throw up pills. This morning he woke up with his breathing very labored, moving very slow and didn’t want to eat so I took him back to the vet. I was talking to my sister about him and she automatically ask me if I fed him Beneful dog food….I do…and told me to stop ASAP because there are alot of dogs getting sick and that her dog almost died from it. I searched for information about the dog food but most is dated 2007, where can I find more updated information about the food?

Kathy

I’ve been through so many dogs foods and about a month ago switched all of my “babies” (dogs) to Carna4 and Natures Logic. I no longer just buy the “grain free” and “holistic” food. I wanted something with quality ingredients. They love the taste and the ingredients are much healthier than any food I’ve tried in the past. Carna4 is my #1 choice and it has made a difference in all of my dogs…so far, they seem much healthier and absolutely LOVE the taste. I also check reviews of dog foods constantly because I had 4 dogs who were getting sick from other foods. Everyone should try Carna4…just my opinion.

Shauna

Just read the labels…this food is full of stuff you would not want to eat, so why feed it to your dog? I understand cost issues, believe me (with two dogs) but you also want your dog to be healthy & have a nutritious food. Invest a bit more in their food and they will be healthier.

More Information

Beneful Dog Food

The commercials for Beneful use the phrase “Beneful – Premium Dog Food for a Happy, Healthy Dog”. The Purina Beneful website is filled with pictures of happy dogs, fresh ingredients and cute graphics. However, is all of this just a bunch of marketing? How nutritious is Beneful dog food for your dog? Learn more about Beneful dog food in our review!

Who is Beneful Manufactured By?

The company who makes Beneful dog food is called Nestle Purina PetCare. Nestle Purina PetCare makes several different brands of pet food aside from Beneful, including Friskies, Puppy Chow, Alpo, Purina ONE and Purina Pro Plan. Though Purina was founded in 1894, the merger between Ralston-Purina and Nestle didn’t happen until 2001. Today, the Nestle Purina PetCare headquarters are located in St. Louis, Missouri.

Beneful Dog Food Recall

As of right now, Beneful dog food is not listed on the FDA’s pet food recall list, and has not been involved in any recent pet food recalls. However, it’s always best if you check the FDA’s pet food recall website on a regular basis, in order to make sure your dog’s food has not been involved in a pet food recall.

Beneful Ingredients

The ingredients in Beneful dog food are of low quality and consist of a lot of fillers. For most dry formulas, the first ingredient is ground yellow corn, and the second ingredient is a by-product meal. Wheat flour and corn gluten meal are also contained in many Beneful formulas, along with sugar, soy flour and animal digest. Beneful dog food formulas also contain artificial colors, which dye individual pieces of kibble in different colors.

Beneful Allergies

There are many ingredients contained in Beneful dog food that could cause allergic reactions in some dogs. Beneful contains both corn and corn gluten meal, which are difficult for dogs to digest, and may cause allergic reactions. Soy is another common allergen contained in Beneful dog food, as well as wheat. Since the proteins in Beneful are mostly by-products, this may cause health problems in some dogs, as well as potential allergy symptoms.

Beneful Recipes

Beneful Dry Recipes:

Beneful Healthy Harvestd

Beneful Healthy Weight

Beneful Original

Beneful Healthy Radiance

Beneful Healthy Growth For Puppies

Beneful Playful Life

Beneful Consumer Info

Where can I buy Beneful?

You may be wondering, “Where can I buy Beneful Dog Food?”. To assist you, we have included links on the specific Beneful formula pages to purchase Beneful dog food.

How much Beneful should I feed my dog?

A common question that many pet owners have, is “How much Beneful dog food should I feed my dog?”. Since the answer is dependent on several factors (such as your dog’s age, weight, activity level, etc) always follow the specific instructions on your formula’s packaging.

Have you fed your dog any of the Beneful dog food dry or canned formulas? Do you have feedback that could help other pet owners? Please share your review of Beneful dog food!